Port of Vancouver rail project will ease traffic

A rail project set to start
construction In November will let the Port of Vancouver better handle long
trains and reduce delays as it loads and unloads cargo, port officials say. The
Terminal 5 project, currently out to bid, will add nearly seven miles of track
on recently acquired port property, the Daily Journal of Commerce reports.

The port already gets long
trains, of 110 cars or longer, project manager Kim Shaffer said. But it can't
fit the entire train at once.

"They can come in, but they
have to be broken in half and loaded on the existing internal storage tracks,"
Shaffer said.

Vancouver sits at an
important rail junction. Small barges and oceangoing ships alike use the rails
to move their cargo across the continent.

The port takes 45 minutes
to an hour to break apart a train and bring it to port, and the same amount of
time to reassemble the long trains, called unit trains, port spokeswoman Katie
Odem said.

Both actions can cause
delays in the entire system, BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said. When the trains
are split, half of the train goes to the BNSF yard, blocking the main line
between Portland and Seattle.

"It can tie up, in some
cases, for hours," Melonas said. The 10 Amtrak trains using BNSF track each day
also can be delayed, he said.

When the port stops using
that section of track, Amtrak can reconfigure it to provide more reliable
service, said Larry Paulson, the port's executive director.

The Terminal 5 project is
one piece of a $135-million project that will eventually create a rail loop
through the port. Paulson said this first piece could cost up to $18 million,
although he's hoping the bids, which are due Oct. 15, come in lower.

"There's loading and
unloading throughout the port," Paulson said. "We have a grain facility that
will make use of the unit trains.

"But they might need to
pull all the way back to the west end (and) then pull back," he said. "Mineral
boats use it. And Subaru autos use unit trains right next to Terminal 5."

The rail loop will be built
on the former Alcoa and Evergreen aluminum manufacturing sites the port bought
earlier this year. Port officials needed to wait until those polluted sites
were cleaned up, and the buildings were demolished, before it could close on
the sale. The whole process took between 15 and 20 years, Paulson said.

When the entire project is
finished, sometime around 2017, the port will be able to handle 160,000 to
180,000 railcars per year, Paulson said. It currently handles 45,000 to 55,000.

The first piece, expected
to be completed next spring, will boost that number significantly, Odem said. "We'll
add 25 percent more capacity than we have right now for railcars at the port,"
she said.